Chair having spring supported back rest and seat



L- V. CLINE Dec. 19, 1950 CHAIR HAVING SPRING SUPPORTED BACK REST AND SEAT Filed Feb. 24, 1945 INVENTOR. LL JTHEQ V. CuNE Wrap/145V Patented Dec. 19, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHAIR HAVING SPRING SUPPORTED BACK BEST AND SEAT 1 Claim.

My invention relates to chairs and the objects of my invention are:

First, to provide a lawn chair which, though constructed entirely of wood, is suffieiently resilient for the comfort of the user without the employment of removable cushions such as are ordinarily used for lawn furniture;

Second, to provide a chair with a resilient seat portion which is spring suspended at the rear, this latter feature adding to the comfort of the user;

Third, to provide a chair of this type with a back rest pivotally secured to the rear portion of a seat portion and spring mounted so that the seat and back rest may move together in a more or less vertical plane and also allowing the back rest to be pressed backwardly and downwardly, thus allowing the user to assume a half reclining or full reclining position;

Fourth, to provide a chair of this type with the rear portion of the seat spring mounted in such manner that the springs used are protected against over-extension by depending portions of the back rest which limit the downward movement of the seat by contacting the ground or other surface upon which the chair is placed when the seat is depressed;

Fifth, to provide a chair with the seat portion comprised of pivotally connected links with cross members secured thereto, forming a flexible seat from parts which in themselves are not flexible and thus allowing employment of wood and other weather resistant materials without necessitating the use of cushions or upholstery;

Sixth, to provide a chair of this type, the seat portion of which may be formed with or without slats attached to the seat supporting links, as hereinafter described more fully;

Seventh, to provide a chair which is practicable to manufacture, sturdy and durable in use and generally satisfactory from both the aesthetic and the utilitarian view points.

With these and other objects in view as will appear hereinafter my invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts and portions as will be hereinafter described in detail and particularly set forth in the appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the characters of reference thereon which form a part of this application in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of my chair with the rearmost seat supporting links, the tension springs and the rear cross member shown 2 a in dash line to facilitate the illustration; and Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of my chair.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar or identical parts and portions throughout the several views:

The front legs I are vertical and are attached directly to the top ends of the rear legs 2 which depend downwardly and rearwardly and are braced by the rungs 3 preferably mortised into both front and rear legs. I prefer to shape these rear legs and rungs 3 in a Y-form as indicated in Fig. 1. The arms 4 are secured to the tops of the front legs I and the tops of rear legs 2 and are supported in horizontal position by the vertical arm supports 5 secured to and between the rear portions of the arms 4 and the central portions of the rear legs 2.

The front legs I are secured together by the rod cross member 6 which I have shown cylindrical and the dowel pins 1, while the rear legs are secured together by the rear cross member 8 which should be substantial in order to lend rigidity to the chair structure and which may be ornamentally shaped as indicated in the drawing.

A plurality of seat supporting links 9 are pivotally connected together by the end portions of the link connecting bars I I] and the links 9 are arranged in two chains extending laterally of the seat portion, the most rearward of the link connecting bars Illa being terminally inserted through suitable holes drilled through the side members II of the back rest as indicated in Fig. 1.' The said side members II depend below the pivot bars Illa so that their lower ends may contact the ground or surface whereon the chair is placed when the rear portion of the seat and back rest are pressed downwardly, thus limiting the possible downward movement of the rear portion of the seat. The upper cross member I2 of the back rest and the corresponding lower cross member I2a are each terminally secured to the side members I I and these cross members I2 and I20 have secured thereto a plurality of slats I3 arranged as indicated in the drawing.

The supporting springs I 4 are terminally connected to the rear cross member 8 and the lower ends of the back rest side members II so that normal tension of said springs I4, acting about the pivots Illa hold the central portions of the side members II in yieldable contact with the rear end portions of the arms 4 which may be stepped to provide suitable abutment faces.

A plurality of slats I5 may be terminally secured to the upper surfaces of the seat supporting links 9, as I have indicated in the drawing.

Though I have shown and described a particular construction, combination and arrangement of parts and portions, I do not wish to be limited to this particular construction, combination and arrangement, but desire to include in the scope of my invention the construction, combination and arrangement substantially as set forth in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a chair of the class described, the combination of a pair of front legs, a pair of rear legs individually secured to the upper portions of said front legs and extending rearwardly and downwardly, a pair of arms supported on said front and rear legs, a flexible seat comprising laterally disposed pivotally connected links, and transversely disposed bar cross members terminally secured to said links, a back rest pivotally secured to the rearmost of said links and provided with a depending portion and yieldably-mounted to the leg structure of theichair by springs secured to said depending portion of'said backrest and to said rear legs, so that said back rest is normally retained in approximately vertical position with the center portion thereof abutting the rear ends of said arms.

LUTHER V. CLINE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

